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Hmmm... My house isn't grounded properly.

E

Eli

Super Moderator | Elite Member
I wonder if this is dangerous, lol..

My house is old. I'm not sure exactly when it was built, but all the sockets are 2-prong. lol.. It also has a built-in(the wall) tube radio in the hall. Still works 😉

Anyway.. The floor is made out of concrete. lol.. It isn't a big deal in most of the house, because there is carpet.. but here in the kitchen.. its bare concrete.

When your bare foot.. and you touch certain metal things (like the metal on my computer case, or the metal on my guitar/amp).. you get shocked. It also happens when you touch someone else and they're touching the floor. It happens all the time when my girlfriend and I go to kiss.

I know it is not static electricity, because it is sustained.. and it doesen't feel like static anyway. I've measured it on the volt meter, and it is anywhere between 6 - 10V AC, depending on how hard you press your feet into the ground, lol. It will also light an LED.. which is actually really cool, to be able to hold one end and ground the other and have it light up, lol. I'll have to try and take some pictures sometime.

Anyway.. Any electricions have anything to comment about this? Is it dangerous? :Q😀
 
YES

Very dangerous... the house my grandfather built was like that when I was a kid, got shocked many times. If you are wet and you touch the hot side of the
plug...:Q

Could be deadly!
 
I had the same problem in a house we were in. Checked at the breaker box and found that it wasnt even grounded to the grounding rod.
:Q
 
get that checked by an electrician immediately...

an ungrounded or improperly grounded house is a fire hazard.

 
Originally posted by: guyver01
get that checked by an electrician immediately...

an ungrounded or improperly grounded house is a fire hazard.
Click to expand...
LOL!

It's probably a code violation, but we aren't going to bitch... They'd have to basically rebuild the entire house to correct the wiring.

How is not being grounded a fire hazard? I thought it was just an electrocution hazard, lol.
 
Originally posted by: Eli
How is not being grounded a fire hazard? I thought it was just an electrocution hazard, lol.
Click to expand...

and when that electricity sparks??

believe me... i've seen the results of improper grounding....

it's not fun.


 
Actually, its probably not a code violation since the house was built so long ago. How does that work?

You aren't required to update your house as building code changes, are you?
 
This may be a relatively easy fix, depending on where your breaker box is. If it is on an outside wall, a grounding rod and 3/0 copper braided cable to the service entrance would be needed. If the panel is buried inside the house, well, that would be harder. But in any case, it needs to be addressed. Suppose its only 6-10VAC now, but theres no telling it couldn't get worse, and then you wouldn't want to test that out, I'm sure.
 
Originally posted by: IGBT
Worrysome..is the hot and the neutral backwards? In addition to the ground prob?
Click to expand...
Don't know.
Originally posted by: guapo337
it happens when you and your girlfriend kiss? maybe it's just the clashing of the passionate love energies...!

😉
Click to expand...
lol.. Yeah, we make that joke all the time. 😉

"I told you I was shocking." .. lol..
 
The house I live in currently is the same way - most of the outlets have been upgraded to 3-prong, but wiring testers still say it's ungrounded (joy). It's a rental though, and even though I could complain about it, I have a feeling all it would do is get me kicked out. 🙁
 
The two prongs are hot and neutral. There is no difference between them electrically, that is they each have the same amount of voltage on them. However, at the power plant, the neutral is actually grounded, and the hot is connected to the dynamo.

In the old days, all plugs and sockets were two-pronged. The prongs were of equal size. If you had a blender with a metal case plugged in, with the plug turned so that the hot side was the one connected to the case; and a toster, with the plug turned so that the neutral side was connected to the case; you would have 120 volts between the cases. If you touched the blender and the toaster at the same time, you could be electocuted.

The next thing that was done was the plugs and sockets were polarized, that is, one of the prongs was made wider (the neutral). That way, the blender and the toaster now both had to be plugged in with the neutral side that was connected to the case. Of course, if a plug wasn't wired correctly (that never happens, now does it?) it could be dangerous.

Now plugs have three prongs. The third prong, you know the one you are always cutting off so you can plug it into a two prong socket goes to ground at the house. Metal cased electrical things (computers) have to be built so the case is grounded to the third prong.

Kitchens, bathrooms, and outdoor sockets now have to have GFI (Ground Fault Interrupter) circuit breakers. That trips when the current flow between ground and neutral reaches a certain, very small threshold, like when the radio falls into the bathtub.
 
IGBT nailed it and Rastus explained it. Make sure your outlets are wired correctly, even without the ground. Use a VOM to check between a water pipe and one of the wires in the outlet. The one that reads 120VAC is the hot. Make sure it's wired to the small slot of the outlet. Do that to ALL your outlets. You could even use GFCIs throughout the house in a two wire system. They're only about $6.00 each for 15AMP units and all outlets that are fed by a GFCI are also protected.
 
However, at the power plant, the neutral is actually grounded, and the hot is connected to the dynamo.
Click to expand...

A slight correction. The power plant generates a three phase power. The local substatin steps the voltage down and distributes individual phases out to the pole transformers. The pole transformer is center tapped to provide 240v which consists of two "hot" 120 lines and a neutral which is grounded at the transformer.
Simplified overview of U.S. Electric Power Distribution

I'm not an electrician but there are some things I would check. The neutral is usually grounded at the meter. Look for a wire running from the electric meter to a grounding rod. If that wire has been damaged or the connections have gone bad then your system is grounded at the transformer. There could be a significant voltage on the neutral leg in that case.
Use your meter to measure from neutral to a metal water pipe. If the pipe and the neutral are both grounded you should get only a volt or two at most between them.

As someone said the hot and neutral could be switched in their plug positions, that could be dangerous based on how old an appliance is plugged in. An AC outlet analyzer would be handy to have to check that out. They only cost about $6 at RadioShack.
You would still need to use a three prong to two prong adapter to use it and it would show the outlets as being ungrounded but it would also show if the polarity is correct.

The chances are very good if a licensed electrician is called on to fix any problem that he by code must fix all of the problems found, ie ground fault outlets installed, three wire outlets.

 
holy crap sounds like your house is pretty old
old houses are so cool 😀
but alot of potential problems such as this!
 
The way I see it is you are getting free power. Don't let the oil companies find out about your house that makes its own electricity.
 
Also, watch where you stick the meter prongs.. Accidentally touch one of the prongs to the wrong two things, and you will have a fireball.

My dad and I were once forced to wire an outlet while it was hot - we shut off our entire fuse box and it still had power (must've been a lazy electrician).. Anyway, my dad is an electrical engineer so he decided to make it a GFCI protected outlet so we could still use it - it is in a very useful place. While we were wiring it, my dad was very careful to test each part with the voltmeter so that we would not touch the wrong two parts. While he was testing one of the parts, the ground wire popped out of the ground screw and touched one of the ends of the hot wire that he was testing. Boom.. big fireball. The metal tip of the probe was completely melted.

It was weird because I was completely startled. My dad, however, didn't move. He said he's seen a lot worse. Evidently, one of the people at where my dad works (big industrial plant), wearing a complete rubber suit and mask, had to cut a 40,000volt wire. The power was supposed to be off and they supposedly checked it thoroughly. But, when he cut it, the line did have power and sparks went everywhere. The wire cutter melted to the wire, the guy's rubber suit was melted all over on the outside. Luckily, it saved him and he was uninjured. My dad was a witness, though the project didn't have anything to do with him.

power just went out!! gotta shut off my computer.. haha
 
Originally posted by: JonnyDuke
YES

Very dangerous... the house my grandfather built was like that when I was a kid, got shocked many times. If you are wet and you touch the hot side of the
plug...:Q

Could be deadly!
Click to expand...

WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU DO THAT EVEN IF THE HOUSE WAS NEW?????????
 
I wouldnt worry about 120VAC that much. 220 is a different story, I for damned sure cut power when workin on that. But 120? Naw, just toss a wood plank down and stand on that.
Course, shock doesnt bother me that much, and with the wood you dont have a good ground.
Granted, if it flooded and your standing in a foot n a half of water and go to fix your problem you might regret not disconnecting the power...But everyday use? Eh, aint worth the time it takes.
 
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